Here are five important things to know about the five-year term deposit or fixed deposit (FD) accounts which offer income tax benefits:

Income tax-saving FD: Interest rates

Major banks today - from state-run State Bank of India (SBI) to private sector peers HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank - pay the following interest rates on the five-year, tax-saving fixed deposits, according to their websites.

Income tax-saving FD: Premature withdrawal

Also known as a tax-saving fixed deposit or tax-saving FD, this account allows a minimum maturity period of five years and a maximum of 10 years. That means the deposit is locked-in for a period of five years.

Lenders do not allow a premature withdrawal from this type of FD accounts before completion of the lock-in period of five years.

Income tax-saving FD: Lock-in period

Investment in these fixed deposits - tax-saving FDs - is locked in for a period of five years from the date of issue, which means the investor cannot withdraw money during this period in order to utilize the tax benefit.

Income tax-saving FD: Investment limit

A maximum investment of Rs 1.5 lakh in a financial year is allowed in income tax-saver five-year fixed deposit.

SBI allows a minimum deposit of Rs 1,000 for investment in its tax-saving scheme, according to the bank's corporate sites - sbi.co.in. Any amount in the multiple of Rs 1,000 not exceeding Rs 1.5 lakh a year is allowed by the bank.